It is known for a client computer system, connected via any one of a number of commercially available network media to a server, to download a boot image from the server and boot. For example, IBMs LCCM Version 2 product, in common with many other current and imminent personal computer (PC) management and maintenance tools such as Intel's LANDesk Configuration Manager, uses the dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) and trivial file transfer protocol (TFTP) to load a DOS operating system as a diskette image into a virtual RAM drive in a client system's memory, and then boots from the diskette image, to perform installation and maintenance tasks.
Different client computer systems booting up using different boot images downloaded from a network require different boot images depending on the hardware configuration of the client and the function to be performed by the booted client. This requires the server to be aware of each client computer configuration and function to be performed when configuring the boot image.
Also, some tasks require that the client be re-booted one or more times in succession to perform a series of functions before proceeding. For example to partition and format a hard disk under DOS, the client must be rebooted between the partition and format stages. A second network boot entails a significant delay as well as creating additional network traffic, and requires that the server computer configuration is modified between the first and second boot stages so the client computer boots with the correct software for each stage in the correct sequence.
The Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) specification (Intel, Compaq et al) allows different network cards to operate with the same OS image, thus solving the major problem of ensuring compatibility between the booted image and the system network card.
However, many older PCs and network adapters do not implement the PXE specification, and other compatibility problems remain requiring different versions of the operating system image to be downloaded for different client systems or tasks. For example, some maintenance tasks require the presence of an Extended Memory Manager (like EMM386) while others will not operate with an Extended Memory Manager. This requires the server to be re-configured to provide the correct boot image for the task to be performed.
It is an object of the present invention to mitigate these problems.